Fame
by Stromguarde
Summary: Within the virtual plane, Kaldr realizes that being famous has its own consequences.


The DoTA 2 heroes aren't all war-addicts in their own right, like any other person; they too need a rest every now and then.

Each hero in the game live in a condominium-type of building that requires them to live side-by-side with another hero. Even up to three have to share the same living space as the construction of proper houses are still underway.

Living at the topmost floor of the building is Kaldr himself, seemingly floating around the room with nothing to do to kill some time.

"Wanna watch some television?" Said a buffalo-like creature beside him while sitting on the couch with a remote stuck to his hoof. It was Black Thunder, Kaldr's roommate in this crowded residential area.

Looking a lot like a normal buffalo, Black Thunder is actually a hero-in-the-making. Recruited by the fundamentals about a month ago, he agreed to join in this popular game played by people from the 'Reality Rift'. He has the power of controlling the winds, making him an aeromancer of some sort. Since the fundamentals haven't yet decided on his skill sets, he still couldn't join.

Turning around to face his bovine companion, Kaldr narrowed his eyes "Put down the remote, mate. I don't want any television today"

"Do you still remember that you heroes are going to have an event tonight? About this 'Allstar Showdown' as they say about it?" Black Thunder Spoke again after lowering the remote "Is tonight going to be a bit more different than it used to be?"

"I don't think so" Kaldr replied "People from the Reality Rift are very picky nowadays. This plane we live in is littered with fan fiction wherever we go and we just have to deal with it so... I guess the event tonight will still be the same"

The buffalo turned the TV on. It's only around early afternoon and the event isn't going to start until 6:00 pm.

_Yurnero ran through the woods, nimbly dodging any plant life that dared to hinder him from saving Rylai. The Crystal Maiden is on her way to save her sister from some sort of demonic corruption and she left the camp very early in the morning. Determined to protect and accompany in her adventure, Yurnero sprinted towards the direction he thinks the maiden took- _

Kaldr snatched the remote from Black Thunder and quickly turned off the television, followed with an annoyed facial expression "Movies nowadays are already too repetitive"

"You're just jealous of him because the fundamentals built a grand mansion for them popular heroes out there" The buffalo grabbed his newly bought phone and began fidgeting with it, leaving Kaldr with his thoughts on the subject.

"I guess you're right, might as well go on my daily dose of fan fiction… Have you seen the new ones?"

Black Thunder made himself comfortable in his seat before replying "This fiction-driven world strikes back and there are tons of new entries on the block" He said with a devious grin accompanied by a small chuckle.

"What's up with the face?" Kaldr raised an eyebrow "Don't tell me all of the new arrivals are Yurnero fictions again…"

"Don't get mad at the writers, Kal" The buffalo showed the screen of his phone to his companion "Yurnero's very popular in the Reality Rift if you know what I mean. Besides, this whole lane partners thingy is their whole inspiration in their marvelous works! And after all, Yurnero's the youngest human character in the game and that made him suitable for the gals"

"Don't tell me you write fan fiction too. We're already living in a fiction-driven world!" Kaldr's now getting a bit too irritated. "Look at Yurnero now, he's a movie star! I think I'm just too overreacting…"

"I know" said Black Thunder "I envy him too. Well at least you appear in the game, not like me"

"My real other issue here besides popularity is that once I enter into the gaming world, my cryomancy powers get a lot weaker. You see what I mean here?"

Black Thunder paused for a while as if knowing the issue at hand "You mean that ice only means support in these games they're in? You gotta stop ranting and deal with it, Kal" He looked around the room as the temperature began to drop, Kaldr's affecting the air around him whenever he gets mad "I'd like to show you something tonight"

"Oh yeah? And what is that?" Kaldr said in an annoyed tone.

"I'll show you why Ice Mages get severely weakened when they enter the gaming world" Black Thunder stood up, put down his phone on the table and walked away "Popularity is the real issue here… sorta… I'll just go take a nap" He left Kaldr with raised eyebrows in the living room.

Now, left alone in silence, Kaldr floated over and picked up his own phone from a drawer.

He checked various fan fiction websites linked to the Reality Rift to see if a few of the stories there have him as a character. He found a few but he's only depicted as a minor character only to be killed later on. He could never understand as to why a ghost like him could be killed with a sword in the gameplay world. He browsed more in his favorite fan fiction site – - only to find more Yurnero fan fictions.

He despised Yurnero, he didn't like him at all. He envied his popularity and power in gameplay. He envied him at just about everything.

Trying to cool down before he burst into rage, he opened his newly downloaded game _Clash of Clowns_ in the hopes of losing his anger at these pointless things. He saw something and quickly turned off the phone.

_Limited Edition pack! Get free Yurnero action figures if you managed to raid over a million resources –_

Kaldr shrugged off the thoughts, not wanting to remember more of what he saw.

Giving the phone one more chance, he opened a website named DivineArt and checked from the gallery of DoTA 2 fan art. Upon looking at it, he immediately found loads of Crystal Maiden fan art.

_At least she dominated DivineArt, whatever the pronunciation of her name was_… But still, these are already getting out of hand and can be already counted as a cliché of some sort. Crystal Maiden can be dominating the website, but Yurnero still lingers in there and there are lots of art for him too.

Wherever he looked for something for him, he ended up failing miserably. Not wanting to act a lot too childish in his tantrums, Kaldr decided to wait until the evening and know what Black Thunder's up to.

Not wanting to waste a lot of time waiting for his friend to wake up, Kaldr readied up their TV and plugged in their personal Playstoration 3.2 and played some _Residence Evil 6_ followed up with _God of War Soul 3_.

He played for five hours non-stop until evening.

"Hey Thunder! Guess what? I got us out in the Beets of Tartarus level!" Kaldr's back to his cheerful self again and he only noticed Black Thunder this time as he was too preoccupied in playing video games "And I got new weapons!"

"Calm down man, have you noticed that I've been watching this whole time?" Black Thunder said, slumped in his usual seat.

Kaldr's expression changed noticeably to blank, not knowing his friend watching him play for the last five hours "What can you say about my fighting style? I parry too much but that's technique so deal with it"

"You do not have the right to say that unless you're wearing shades"

"Oh yeah… I forgot about that… About the event?"

"We're going to that now… I'll show you what I mean… Have you ever observed Yurnero before?"

Kaldr paused before speaking "Nooo…." He scratched his icy head.

"C'mon, we have nothing to lose"

The place of the event is the same place where heroes go to act in both fan fictions and gameplay. From the elevator down, both could see its huge blue roof and other heroes such as them already flocking around the entrance of the place. As soon as the doors opened, both saw a small and rather familiar skeletal mage.

"Hey Pugna, what's wrong now?" Black Thunder's the first to speak.

"Our team lost in Club Wars…" He replied with a saddened childish tone "Yurnero's on the other team… Our club was fifty points higher but the online referee still made Yurnero's team win…" He walked off.

"Little things matter a lot to that kid; he takes _Clash of Clowns_ a little bit too seriously… Poor kid" Kaldr commented as the two proceeded on their way to the event tonight "At least he didn't take popularity issues too seriously like I do…"

"I haven't seen a fiction with him as a character, seriously…" The buffalo walked faster as soon as they approached the exit of their massive condominium. "We're going to be late. I know this event is only optional for non-popular heroes like that skeleton kid there but you're not going to learn anything if you just stuck up our large apartment block"

They entered the place and sat in a dimly lit corner.

Black Thunder nudged Kaldr and gestured for him to look at his surroundings. Doing what he's told to, Kaldr scanned the area. He'd only been here on a few occasions and he never had the time to look around as he's always annoyed by the more popular heroes taking the spotlight.

Kaldr noticed other heroes are just there for the free food and drinks as long as the event is on. Near the _Door of Balance_ – the entrance between their world and the world of fan fiction and gameplays in the Reality Rift, popular 'Dire' heroes Pudge, Ostarion and Axe stood at about two meters away, seemingly chatting about something.

And on the other side, an easily noticeable figure stood, with a phone in hand. "Look at him…" Black Thunder pointed his hoof at Sven in a corner, alone. "Does he look like he wants what he's having? He may be depicted as one badass sword-slinging brute, doubling as either Crystal's or Li's boyfriend in some fictional works"

"Aren't those true?" Kaldr asked with an asked eyebrow "I never meant to join here, I never knew I'd be transported to this world, where cryomancy sucked big time. I don't socialize enough"

"If those are both true, those ladies are already there with him… Where are they now?"

"I don't know…"

"I heard yesterday that Riley Rylay Ryley whatever-the-pronunciation-of-her-name-is just got admitted into the hospital"

"What happened?"

"Caffeine overdose… Drank too much coffee to stay awake after tons of acting in the Reality Rift's fictions, gameplay and other stuff… A popular person like her should not die at all and this plane's responsible for that if she does. Within the gaming world, everyone could be reborn again, you know that right?"

"I already know that we cannot go to any plane unless the Reality Rift's asking for it, I know that already since I got here"

"Found by her sister in their room under Cardiac Arrest. Being famous caused her to take in too much caffeine and ended up overdosing herself, just for the sake of staying awake after all these fiction tapings she got. Still wanting to be famous?"

"Black Thunder, I don't even drink coffee in the first place" Kaldr replied "And isn't Lina be happy about it, seeing Crystal's near-death experience?"

"Again, ignore character lores… All of them are made up like yours by the fundamentals… The point is that those two never fought each other before. I know that popular heroes get to live in a mansion while we live in some crappy establishment but the point is that sibling rivalry is very immature… Lina's not as popular as her sister and she's happy about it as she gets to have a lot of free time for herself. Still wanting to be popular?" Black Thunder asked once more.

"I still want to have that feeling of being famous…" Kaldr crossed his icy arms and raised an eyebrow, even though it's just some small dark line above his eyes.

"Let's get back to Sven, I always see him hanging around with some unpopular characters. Sure he's very serious-looking but that's only in the games and stories. He's a fun-loving person who likes adventure. I saw him along with… Wait I'll just remember… There was Banehallow, Mortred, Eredar, Shendelzare, Akasha and her brother… I think they're planning on visiting this lake just a few kilometers from here.

"You mean Balanar as the brother? Geez… I don't even see any resemblance at all between the two of them-" Kaldr was cut off by his companion saying he'll explain that later "I feel like I had just arrived yesterday…"

"You still have a lot to learn, loner" Black Thunder teased him about being a loner then continued "Now we move on to Yurnero… You see that lone figure in that dimly lit area over there?" He tried to point at the stationary person in the dark area "See him? He's as famous as Crystal and both have the same problems… Except that he didn't put himself in some hospital due to Caffeine Overdose. Look at him; he's just as lonely as you are"

Yurnero had his head in contact with the table he's sitting on; it could be he's sleeping or just in some sort of trance.

Black Thunder continued upon seeing that Kaldr can now see Yurnero's camouflaged form "He wants to be normal like you. He also wants time for himself. He also wants to have some fun. He's basically regretting what his fame brought him"

"How can you be so sure?"

"I heard him rant to Carl about it and even planned to switch places with him, probably with some magic trick-" Before Black Thunder could continue, Kaldr elongated his icy arm and tapped Carl's shoulder, who's currently reading some book. Kaldr then gestured for the mage to come closer, in which he did.

"Have you and Yurnero ever thought of exchanging places?"

"Well technically yes, what about it? Give the guy a break every now and then will ya?" Carl replied in a gentle manner, contrasting on what his lore says about him "I think it would be better than him also joining Riley in the hospital for Caffeine Overdose"

"Thanks again bro, you can leave now" Black Thunder dismissed him and was about to talk when Kaldr spoke first.

"He has so many critics besides his already hard life in here… I think I'm being too childish… I'm already centuries old and yet I act like the little Pugna back in the condo… I think I don't want to be famous anymore" He said.

The Buffalo was impressed at his sudden change in thoughts, whether he's faking it or not "I thought you don't drink coffee?" He said in an attempt to test him.

"I just remembered what I played in back in our room… If I was that famous I would be too busy doing some starring in fan fiction and other things instead of doing things I want. I would be so occupied with fans and many other things that I can't enjoy life anymore. I think I'd rather be normal. I think these are also the reason as to why Reality Rift celebrities consider suicide as a way to get out of this?" Kaldr's tone looked serious.

"You can live life to its fullest… Hmmm, wanna make some snow statues tomorrow?" Black Thunder asked with a grin "I'll invite in some others there!"

"Sounds cool!" Kaldr replied as they walked out of the area, knowing that neither of them would star in the next fan fiction from the Reality Rift, content with what they currently have.


End file.
